Twists and turns
by Treestar14
Summary: Chell embarks on a familiar journey, but this one has new twists and new freinds. portal 2 AU. rated T because... actually, I have no idea. On Haitus (Whatever that means, I'm just copying what I've seen) untill I get back to it. Under editing.


**WELL HAI THUR! this iz mah second fanfic (but the first never got finished...) **

**loz, stop speaking in cheezeburgarian.**

**SHUT UP. anyway. this one is an au. this first chapter is fairly cannon, but it'll change soon. i hope.**

**if it doesent, well i'll go and put myself in android hell.**

**thats assuming i ever write another chapter.**

**now here's the thing- i really need anyone who likes this story to reveiw or something, because if i'm not reminded, i'll forget about this.**

**she will. procrasination is her middle name, and lazy is the other.**

**:I anyway, i think that's it.**

**thanks!**

**(and if you got confused, i was just talking to myself. and whoever is reading this. at the same time.) **

* * *

><p>"Good morning. You have been in suspension for <em>fifty<em> days. In compliance with state and federal regulations, all testing candidates in the Aperture science extended relaxation center must be revived periodically for a mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise" a voice announced.

Chell opened her eyes slowly, and stared at the white ceiling for a while. You might think she was considering something while she lay there. She could be wondering where in the world she was, or how she had gotten there, but no, her mind was blissfully blank. Until she remembered what had happened. Now that's what you call food for thought.

Chell sat up quickly and looked around. To her surprise, she saw she was in a small apartment room, nicely furnished, with light glowing through the windows. Almost… normal. How in the world had she gotten here?

She slid her legs over the bed so she was sitting properly, trying to wriggle her numb toes to try and get some feeling into them. She looked down at them when she had difficulty, and saw to her surprise that she had shoes on. They weren't normal shoes though. They must have been designed for her advanced knee replacements, since the straps protruded seamlessly from the back. Chell vaguely wondered whether she would ever get arthritis in her knees, since they were now apparently artificial. While considering this she tugged at the boot, and to her shock and delight, both the boot and knee replacement came off. Well, they weren't actually the replacements anymore. They were part of the boot. _The advanced knee replacement got replaced_, Chell smirked. But she kept them on anyway, just in case.

"You will hear a buzzer. When you hear the buzzer, look down at the floor" the voice said, and Chell jumped. She'd forgotten that there'd been a voice. Chell felt a tiny moment of relief when she realized it wasn't GLaDOS. This made Chell a little more confident that she _had _killed the AI after all.

Chell cautiously got up, and waited for the buzzer. She felt disappointed that she was back in aperture after all. For a minute she'd thought she was back outside.

The buzzer sounded, and Chell looked down. She wondered vaguely why they were getting her to do this. Maybe to check for brain damage.

"Good. You will hear a buzzer. When you hear a buzzer, look up."

When it did, Chell looked up, and then waited expectantly.

"Good. This completes the gymnastic portion of your mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise." The voice droned

Chell stared at it in disbelief. That was _it_? No sit-ups, no star-jumps? Aperture sure had a strange idea of the word gymnastic. Or maybe they were trying to save time and move on… either way, it was pretty pathetic.

To Chell's surprise, the voice continued, "There is a framed painting on the wall. Go stand in front of it."

Chell stumbled forwards. Her legs felt like jelly. Probably an after effect of the suspension, she decided. She came to a halt in front to the painting, and wondered what to do next. The voice, always helpful, answered her silent question.

"This is art. When you hear the buzzer, stare at the art."

Chell facepalmed as the buzzer sounded. She dutifully stared at the art for a few seconds, till the voice spoke again.

"You should now feel mentally reinvigorated. If you suspect staring at art has not provided the required intellectual sustenance, reflect briefly on this classical music."

Chell gave up on standing and collapsed onto her bed as classical music was belted through the room. _At least it isn't jazz_, she grimaced. The music was cut off by a buzzer.

"Good. Now, return to your bed" the voice instructed.

Chell was already sitting on the bed, so she shifted around and lay down. The world began to fade away, and her last thought was; _aperture really does have some strange ideas about wellbeing._

When Chell next woke up, she didn't lie there motionless, unthinking. No, her mind was very busy giving her the biggest head ache ever. Chell sat up and clutched at her head, eyes screwed up in pain. Slowly, painfully slowly, the headache faded.

She looked around, and to her horror, she saw that the once-spotless room was now filthy. The walls where covered in something yucky looking. The bed sheets where strewn everywhere. Even the painting was stained and ripped. In a nutshell, it was a complete and utter mess.

"Good morning. You have been in suspension for _nine nine nine nine nine…_" the voice cracked and warped.

Chell's eyes widened in horror. How long had she been asleep? The voice continued to repeat nine, but it started talking over itself.

"This courtesy call is to inform you that all test subjects should vacate the Enrichment Center immediately." Suddenly a new voice sounded over the nines and the announcement.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" this one had a British accent, and seemed to be coming from the door at the corner of the room. "hellooo?"

"… Any test subject not emerging from suspension at this time…"

"Are you going to open the door? Any time?" the British voice said. Chell got up and cautiously walked over to the door. She didn't open it though.

"…assumed to have exercised his or her right to remain in extended relaxation, for the duration of the destruction of this facility…"

"Hello? Can y- no?" Chell still didn't answer the door. It could be a robot sent by GLaDOS to kill her… "Can you open the door? Because it's fairly urgent"

"… If you have questions or concerns regarding this policy, or if you require a Spanish-language version of this message, feel free…"

"Oh, just open the door!" the British voice said angrily. This surprised Chell. Maybe it was a human, if it could show emotion like that… the voice muttered to itself "That's too aggressive." Then it said loudly "Hello, friend! Why not open the door?"

Chell couldn't help but smile at that. Feeling still a little suspicious, she opened the door.

"HA!" the door opened to reveal I little spherical personality core. "I kne-"Then he saw Chell. "AH! Oh. My. God. You look terribl- ummm... good. Looking good, actually." The sphere rambled as he rolled into the room on a rail.

Chell once again felt a pang of disappointment. He wasn't a human after all. But strangely enough, she seemed to have taken a liking to him anyway.

"Are you okay? Are you - Don't answer that. I'm absolutely sure you're fine. There's plenty of time for you to recover. Just take it slow." The core continued. Chell's grin widened.

"Please prepare for emergency evacuation." Said the voice that had guided her through the 'exercises'.

The core's eye shrunk in fear and he started rapidly talking again. "Stay calm! 'Prepare' - that's what they're always saying. 'Prepare.' It's all fine. Alright? Don't move. I'm gonna get us out of here." He disappeared through a small door in the ceiling that Chell hadn't noticed before.

Chell nervously sat on the bed as a motor started over head and the floor stated to rumble. She sure hoped she could trust this little sphere. The cores on GLaDOS hadn't been too bad after all… except maybe that anger core. Why anyone would put an anger core on GLaDOS, Chell would never know. But the others had seemed fine. Insane, probably, but not murderous.

"Are you okay down there?" the core called. Chell didn't answer. She had a strict rule she had imposed upon herself long ago- no talking in aperture. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

The door in the roof opened again and the core re-appeared. He looked around awkwardly "Most test subjects do experience some cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now you've been under for... quite a lot longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage."

Chell raised her eye brows. Obviously, to her at least, she didn't have brain damage.

"But don't be alarmed, alright? Although, if you do feel alarm, try to hold onto that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told you have brain damage." The core stuttered

Chell rolled her eyes and grinned at him. The core looked confused, because that was not the correct reaction in his opinion.

"Do you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? Just tell me, 'Yes'."

Chell shook her head. The core tilted its head "no? Okay, try saying 'apple' then. Nice, simple word. 'Apple'"

Chell shook her head again. The core looked even more confused "you don't like apples? I like apples- although, I've never eaten one, you know no mouth and all…"

Chell tapped her foot impatiently and face palmed. Maybe she needed to be a bit more specific-

Suddenly a siren went off. The sphere's eye shrunk and he blurted out "actually, that's good enough. Hold on" then he disappeared into the roof again.

The sound of a motor started again, and the room shook violently. Part of the plaster wall actually collapsed, allowing Chell to see what was going on outside. To her shock, she could see that it wasn't just her room that had fallen into disrepair. It was the whole facility. Pieces of metal hung rusting, and pieces of walls were missing.

The core stated to shout to her "look, I didn't want to mention it before, but im in pretty hot water here!"

Chell grimiced and held on as the room rocked violently. The core started to ramble about how the test subjects had stoped waking up. Chell realized with a start that she was probably extremely lucky to be alive at all.

"Hold on! This is a bit tricky!" the core cried. There was a bang and even more of the wall fell apart. Then the core started yelling about how nobody had told him that the test subjects had stopped waking up. Chell noted that he mentioned he'd been in charge of them.

"Do you think I'll fit through here?" he yelled. The obvious answer was no. the core realized this once he had miraculously managed push through. "I- I just need to concentrate!"

Chell was beginning to wonder if she would make it out of this 'ride' alive at all.

The core continued to yell at her while he crashed through the facility. Something about stories and people asking questions. Chell was busy trying not to fall over

"Okay, almost there. On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks. There's a piece of equipment in there we're gonna need to get out of here. I think this is a docking station. Get ready..."

Chell guessed the equipment was the portal gun. Suddenly she noticed that the 'docking station' the core had mentioned was actually a wall with the words docking station printed on it, and arrows pointing _down._

Naturally, instead of heading down, the core tried to ram right into the wall. "Good news- that is not a docking station. Mystery solved. I will now attempt a manual override on this wall."

Chell facepalmed, but quickly stopped when she fell backwards. She scrambled back up and hung on for dear life as the core rammed the room into the wall again. He still hadn't managed to break through, but the room was now on the verge of total collapse.

"Almost there!" the room began to reverse further than before, ready for the final break. "remember, you're looking for a gun that makes holes- not bullet holes, but- you'll work it out!" the core yelled

The room bashed into the wall and finally broke through. The entire front of the room was now broken, and most of the plaster walls where crumbled. There was a whirring sound, and the core reappeared once more.

"Okay" the core said "you're probably not in a fit state to face this kind of mental gauntlet, but… just do your best, and find the hole-gun. If you can." The core said

Chell smiled at him. Suddenly she realized she didn't know what his name was. Actually, she had no idea if cores had names at all, other than their purpose. In any case, she tried to ask the core his name by pointing at him.

"I'll meet you up ahead", the core told her kindly, clearly not understanding.

Chell shook her head and gestured towards him again.

"Me? What about me?" the core asked, blinking its blue optic.

Chell frowned and pointed again.

"Me…? Oh! You want to know my name!" the core realized

Chell sighed in relief and nodded. It had taken him long enough.

"I'm Wheatley." He told her, "That's what the scientists called me anyway."

Chell grinned at Wheatley and walked out of the room. At least her legs didn't feel like jelly this time. She stepped carefully onto the glass in front of her, which shattered when she put her weight on it. As she fell, she heard Wheatley call "good luck!"

To Chell's shock, the room she was in was exactly like the one she had been in when she had first started the tests before(except for the glass everywhere). Actually, if it was possible, the test chambers looked _cleaner_ than before. While she was considering this, that voice from the extended relaxation chamber started talking to her again, something about the about tests in structural collapse. Chell ignored it. The orange portal opened and Chell stepped through, admiring the cleanliness of the place. She got to the end of the walk and entered the next test. This one was spotless too. It was a bit disturbing. The voice continued to drone on as Chell placed a cube on a button. Suddenly a piece of the roof fell off with a crash, leaving dust everywhere. Chell sniggered at the now dirty room.

Then a new voice started "oh I cannot believe this! It's _always _the cube and button room, always!" suddenly, a personality core lowered itself through the hole in the roof. This one had a silver optic, with a black pupil, and a female-sounding voice. She continued to rant, not noticing Chell "dust everywhere! Going to take ages! Why in the-"then the core spotted Chell "oh! A test subject! I thought Wheatley had killed all those!"

Chell frowned. This core made it sound like it had been Wheatley's fault, but as far as Chell knew, that wasn't the case. And in any case, that blundering core seemed too kind to have killed everyone on _purpose. _

"Was it you who broke the roof?" the core asked, narrowing its shutters into a glare.

Chell felt slightly ashamed and nodded glumly, then pointed to the cube sitting on the button.

"Hmpf" the core snorted and turned its glare to the button "that button seriously has something wrong with it. I've had to repair it so many times I've lost count…"

Chell felt relieved when the core stopped glaring at her. She wasn't sure why, but the core made her feel guilty.

The core turned back to Chell (not glaring this time) and asked her kindly; "did Wheatley send you?"

Chell nodded. Thinking about it, she actually had no idea why he had sent her into the testing track to get a portal gun.

The core tilted herself into a confused expression. "Can you talk?"

Chell hid a small grin at how she had figured that out almost instantly, whereas Wheatley had no idea. She shrugged at the core.

"You just don't want to?" the core asked

Chell nodded again.

"Okay then. Well, I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm the cleaning core. I'm in charge of all the test chambers after GLaDOS was put offline." The core said. Chell flinched slightly at the mention of the murderous AI. "If you like, you can call me Cassie"

Chell nodded and grinned. the core lifted its lower shutter into a smile

"Well, I'd ask your name, but obviously you won't answer." Cassie said "but anyway, where is Wheatley?"

Chell pointed to the now open door, trying to indicate he was ahead. Cassie seemed to understand.

"Well, I'll go meet you there too. Maybe I can help in some way. Well, first I've got to get those nanobots to fix that button. Or maybe I should just replace it… Can't have this chamber dirty like this…" Cassie muttered to herself, beginning to retract back into the hole. "See you later"

Chell waved, then turned around and exited the room. She quickly made her way through the next few chambers, 'till she finally she heard a familiar British voice.

"Hey hey!" Wheatley appeared on his rail "you made it!"

Chell grinned and waved at him. Wheatley's lower shutter raised a little.

"There should be-" Wheatley was cut off.

"Hey! Wheatley!" Cassie came down the rail behind him. Wheatley's optic shrunk in surprise for a second.

Chell looked at the two. They both looked pretty similar, both with metal casings and hanging from a rail. The only real difference, apart from their colorful optics, was that whereas Wheatley was covered in dirt and dents, Cassie was pristine.

"Oh... hi Cassie." Wheatley said nervously, "look, sorry, I know I shouldn't be here and all…"

"That's okay" Cassie said briskly "I'm just glad you didn't kill all of the humans"

Wheatley frowned started to protest, and Chell gave Cassie a questioning look, pretty much saying 'why isn't Wheatley supposed to be here?' luckily, Cassie seemed to get the general gist of what she was asking.

"After GLaDOS got killed, all the personality cores where activated and assigned jobs to keep the place running. Since then, all the cores have made… territories of a sort. We don't like other cores coming onto our territory. Since this is my territory, Wheatley shouldn't be here." Cassie explained

Wheatley stopped denying he had killed all the humans, and looked awkward.

Cassie noticed Wheatley's expression and laughed "don't worry! No-bodies stupid enough to think _you'd _invade their territory!"

Wheatley smiled (well it was really that eye lifting thing, but you get the picture) and said "thank you"

Chell giggled, since Cassie had gbvoisly not meant it as a compliment, and Cassie rolled her eyes.

"In any case, what did you want?" Cassie asked Wheatley briskly, clearly wanting to get to the point.

"Well. I was going to get Chell here to get the gun that makes holes so we could get to _her _chamber and catch a lift out of here before it explodes." Wheatley in a big rush.

"_GLaDOS's _chamber?" Cassie gasped "are you mad? No-one goes in there! She's probably got an army of turrets in there or something"

Chell's eyes widened. She hadn't known they were going anywhere GLaDOS. She felt a surge of anger that Wheatley hadn't cared to mention this part of his plan earlier.

"But it's the only way out!" Wheatley explained to Cassie. (This didn't seem like a good enough excuse to Chell, so she glared at him. Wheatley didn't notice.)

Cassie frowned, considering it for a second. "Well, I know there is definitely an elevator there, but there are probably others around"

"But the facility would probably blow up before we found another one!" Wheatley countered. His upper shutter was lowered, showing his annoyance with Cassie.

Cassie nodded slowly, and then turned to Chell, who was watching Wheatley angrily. "I can get you there a lot quicker. I can move the panel's so you won't have to test."

Chell turned her gaze away from Wheatley and grinned at Cassie gratefully. But Cassie wasn't finished

"… but only if you bring me with you"

That was fair enough. Chell was about to nod and smile at the core, but Wheatley had other ideas

"What? Why would we do that?" Wheatley exclaimed angrily "we have enough to deal with without _you _dragging us back"

Chell let out a fake cough to catch Wheatley's attention and glared at him. How could he say that to Cassie's face?

Wheatley looked at her confusedly "but… oh fine."

Cassie glared at Wheatley, then grinned at Chell "no, that's okay, actually. I just wanted to see if you would. If I went, who would keep the test chambers tidy? They'd be filthy the moment I'd gone." Chell nodded understandably at the core. "I'll move the panels so you can get to GLaDOS's chamber quicker, without going through the tests"

"What about the portal gun?" Wheatley asked quietly.

"This one" Cassie pointed to the portal gun across the room with her optic "is only a one portal gun. The dual portal gun has been missing since GLaDOS was killed"

Chell shrugged and grinned a thank you to Cassie.

Cassie grinned back, and then said "I'll have to go to a port to move the panels. Maybe I'll see you around, Chell." Cassie spared one last glare at Wheatley, and then sped away.

Chell waved as Cassie disappeared. It was disappointing really. She wished Cassie had come along, but that wasn't Chell's choice to make.

Wheatley and Chell waited in the chamber for the panels to move. Chell pointedly didn't look at Wheatley. She was annoyed at him for immediately rejecting Cassie, and not telling Chell they were going near GLaDOS. She could hear Wheatley fidgeting behind her.

"Um…" Wheatley finally broke the silence between them "…Chell?"

Chell grunted to show she was listening, but still didn't look at him. She wanted him to know just how annoyed she was.

"Look… ok, I'm sorry about before. Ok?" Wheatley said "really, I am"

Chell didn't look at him, and simplify nodded. She hadn't properly forgiven him though.

"Can you forgive me?" Wheatley said, almost sounding on the verge of tears now (or as close as a robot could get) "please?"

Chell gave up her annoyed attitude and turned around. Wheatley was staring at her, optic wide. Chell grinned at him and gave him a pat, trying to indicate he was forgiven. Wheatley grinned back, understanding the gesture.

There was a whirring sound and one of the panels moved, revealing a passage behind it. Chell started to walk towards it.

"Um" Wheatley said. Chell noticed that there wasn't a rail above the passage. Chell turned and looked expectantly at Wheatley, waiting for him to come off his rail. She knew the cores could. The ones on GLaDOS had functioned perfectly well on their own… before they'd been thrown in the incinerator.

"Well, you see, they told me never ever disengage to from my rail, or I would _die." _Wheatley said in a very serious and slightly panicked voice.

Chell rolled her eyes and shook her head. Wheatley looked nervously down at her.

"So, you think I won't die?" he asked. Chell nodded. "Ok. If you're sure… but, on the off chance I'm not dead the moment I fall, could you catch me?"

Chell nodded and walked back over to him, then held out her hands for him to fall into.

"Okay, on three… one… two… three- nononono" Wheatley suddenly drew back "three gives you way too much time to think... oh I know! Ready?" Chell nodded "ONE!" and he dropped into Chell's arms

Chell stumbled under his weight. She hadn't know he would weigh this much. Almost as much as a weighted companion cube.

"I'm alive! I- you okay?" Wheatley asked, realizing Chell had stumbled. When Chell nodded, he cried "let's go!"

Chell grinned, and finally walked into the pathway onwards. They walked along for a fair while through the very clean halls, until suddenly they reached a door with a neat note stuck to it. Chell read it, and then showed it to Wheatley.

"This is the edge of my territory. Good luck! – Cassie" he read out loud, Then he grinned and said happily "that's nice of her"

Chell grinned at him. She was glad he was being nice to Cassie now. She pocketed the note and went on through the door. There was an instant difference.

Though it was no-where near as wrecked as Wheatley's territory, this place was a lot dirtier than Cassie's. There was tiles scattered everywhere, and plants growing off the roof. Chell didn't recognize the leaves of the plants, but they all seemed to be the same one.

"Um" Wheatley looked around, trying to figure out where to go "it's this way I think" he pointed left down a hallway. Chell dutifully walked down it, until it split again into a t intersection. There was a rail going down one of the off shoots. Chell followed it.

Eventually, they came to a very leafy corridor with a door at the end. Chell marched towards it.

"Actually" Wheatley suddenly said "why don't we just turn around now before she kill's us. Yes, that sounds much better. Not being killed"

Chell gave him an exasperated look. She actually wanted to go in there and see GLaDOS. Not to gloat or anything, but to just see and confirm that she _was _dead.

The door began to slide open and Wheatley panicked.

"Nononono. Turn around, now she'll kill us, it's a-"then the door opened wide enough for him to see inside "nope, she's off! Panic over! Phew!"

Chell slowly crept in, remembering what Cassie had said about an army of turrets. That did seem appropriately GLaDOS. Thankfully, there was no sign of any military androids in there. It was just as overgrown in here as everywhere else in this bit of aperture, and there was a lot of water on the ground too… or at least Chell _hoped _was water. Just to be sure, she nudged a fallen leaf into a puddle (which thankfully didn't dissolve, proving it was normal water), before splashing forward.

"There she is" Wheatley said in awe.

GLaDOS was sprawled across the ground in front of them. Her white exterior was cracked and rusted, cords lay half covered in dirt. The A.I's huge faceplate rested lifeless in the mud, her normally bright optic blank. Chell stared at the construct in awe and horror. It was her that had done this to the AI.

Wheatley was looking at GLaDOS too. "What a nasty piece of work she was, honestly. Like a proper maniac"

Chell frowned at this a bit. Hadn't it been the personality cores that had made GLaDOS how she was? And when Chell had removed those cores, she would have been free with her own personality. Chell wondered what GLaDOS would have been like. When she had killed the last core, there'd been very little time to chat with the AI. Not that at the time it would have occurred to her at the time.

"Do you know who ended purging her in the end?" Wheatley asked. Chell nodded, but Wheatley was still looking at GLaDOS and didn't see. "You'll never believe this. A human." He turned to look at Chell upon saying this, and upon seeing the expression on her face, promptly shut up. For about ten seconds.

"Apparently this human escaped and nobody's seen him since!" Wheatley burst out at the end of his amazing ten seconds of silence. Chell glared at him and he quickly added "or she!"

Chell sighed. It was probably best he didn't know it had been her that had killed GLaDOS. She crouched down and placed Wheatley gently on the ground, before moving to kneel close to GLaDOS's head.

"Hey! What are you- don't touch anything!" Wheatley protested. Chell ignored him

Tentatively, she reached out her hand and gently laid it on the scratched white faceplate. It was cool to the touch, but didn't move nor make a sound. Chell knew if GLaDOS had been awake there would be a very embarrassed moment here. But the huge construct would never know.

Wheatley was staring at her incredulously when she finally stood and picked him up. "Wow" he said "um. Do you know her?"

Chell wasn't sure if she could say she truly knew the construct. She didn't know if anyone could. She simply shrugged and walked away from the huge AI.

Wheatley didn't seem to understand what she meant, but decided to move on. "Ok, behind the incinerator, there is a set of stairs. That's where we're headed."

Chell nodded and headed that way. She gave the incinerator a wide berth, trying to ignore the terrifying memories the sight of it brought to her. She saw the stair hidden behind a veil of leaves, and quickly headed down them, running down a few stories before they ended midflight. Chell looked down. It was a fair way, but nothing her long fall boots couldn't handle… probably. She'd never used them before now…

"Jump!" Wheatley said excitedly, and then peered down "actually, that's quite a distance isn't it? You know-" then Chell jumped, before he could keep talking. "AHHHH!" Wheatley yelled as they fell. Chell, as per usual, was silent. Chell landed with a crash. She gave the long fall boots an approving glance, glad they had worked after all. Then, reaffirming her grip on the babbling sphere, Chell marched onwards. As she walked across a catwalk across a bottomless pit, Wheatley looked down and started rambling again. Chell noted that he seemed to do that particularly when he was scared or worried.

Finally they reached what Wheatley called 'the main breaker room'. It was a huge tube lined with switches, really. When they entered it, Wheatley looked around, and started rambling again "Look for a switch that says lifts. Alright? Not interested in anything else. Don't touch anything else, Don't even look at anything else, just- well, obviously you've got to look at everything else to find the lift one, but as soon as you've looked at something and it doesn't say lifts, look at something else, look at the next thing. Alright? But don't touch anything else or look at any- well, look at other things, but don't... you understand."

While he rambled, Chell carefully studied the switches. They all seemed to be the same, apart from the different colours. She had no idea how they were supposed to know which one it was.

"Hm. I don't see it. Why don't you plug me in, and I'll turn on the lights." Wheatley said.

Chell didn't see anything wrong with some lights, so when a port opened in the middle of the room, she carefully plugged him in. When she did, the tunnel lit up, allowing her to see that it actually went quite a way up.

"Lifts… lifts…" Wheatley muttered, looking around. Then the platform he and Chell where both on started moving in a circle. "Oh look! Turning. Ominous. But probably fine. Just as long as it doesn't start moving up." Chell face palmed. That was just asking for it.

Wheatley's request was answered when the platform started moving up, flipping the switches as it went. "It's moving up. Its okay, this should slow it down" Wheatley started to panic.

For a second, the platform stopped, and Chell let out a relieved sigh. Then, the platform shot up again, even quicker this time.

"nope, makes it go faster" Wheatley stated the obvious, as the platform came out of the top of the tunnel, right in front of GLaDOS's limp body.

"Power up initiated" said the announcer. Chell facepalmed. Typical. In her attempt to escape, they had managed to wake up GLaDOS instead.

Wheatley started to try and enter a code to stop it, but Chell wasn't listening. She watched in horror as the scattered parts of GLaDOS's body began to move and reassemble themselves. Chell was glad GLaDOS's optic was still off. That probably meant that the A.I wasn't fully aware yet. As GLaDOS writhed and repaired herself, Wheatley had finally given up on the passwords. He was now telling Chell to act natural like they'd done nothing wrong.

_But I have! _Chell cried in her head _I killed her, and now she's going to kill me! _

There was a ding, and a GLaDOS's optic finally turned on. And now she was staring at Chell.

"Oh" GLaDOS said "it's _you_"

Chell felt a shiver travel down her spine as GLaDOS spoke. She noticed that the AI's voice had changed since they had first met. It was a bit less computery, and seemed to have an almost musical quality to it.

"I was right!" Wheatley whispered "you two do know each other!" Chell shot him an annoyed look, then returned her attention to GLaDOS, who was still staring- well, actually it was more of a glare.

"How have you been? GLaDOS asked. Chell knew this was sarcastic "I've been really busy, being dead. You know, after you _murdered me_?"

Chell's eyes widened. GLaDOS had almost sounded upset just then. Not angry like Chell had thought, but upset, almost as if GLaDOS thought Chell had betrayed her.

Wheatley's disbelieving voice sounded from below her "you did what?"

Suddenly there was a whirring sound and two claws swung down from the ceiling and gasped Chell and Wheatley, pulling them into the air to hang in front of GLaDOS. Wheatley started repeating "nonononono" desperately.

"Okay look." GLaDOS said. "We both said a lot of things you're going to regret." There was a flurry of sparks as the claw started to crush Wheatley. "But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science" GLaDOS continued, as the claw succeeded in crushing Wheatley. "You monster" GLaDOS didn't even glance at Wheatley as the poor core's optic dwindled into nothing. Then GLaDOS threw him away with a flick of her claw.

Chell's eyes widened. Wheatley was gone. Dead. And he hadn't done anything! Actually, it was thanks to Wheatley that GLaDOS was alive at all! And she called _Chell _a monster. Chell glared at GLaDOS. All thoughts of regretting her murder where gone from her mind now. Actually, she was regretting regretting the murder.

"Oh, don't look at me like that" GLaDOS chuckled "I was saving him from his own stupidity"

The rage inside Chell grew. She fumed, and wished she could kill GLaDOS over again, and see her suffer like Wheatley had. She swore to herself she would never, ever rest until she'd gotten revenge for Wheatley.

GLaDOS began to move Chell across the room, until she was hanging above the incinerator Chell had seen before. Chell looked at it apprehensively.

"I will say though, since you both went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test." GLaDOS said, that musical quality of her voice strengthening when she mentioned tests. "I love it too. There's just one thing we need to take care of first"

Then the claw released Chell, and she went plummeting down, into the incinerator.


End file.
